‘Conquering the souls’: nationalism and Greek guerrilla warfare in Ottoman Macedonia, 1904-1908

Abstract

Abstract This article aims to analyse the Greek struggle against Bulgarian bands and ‘Bulgarian’ villages in Ottoman Macedonia between 1904 and 1908. Greek views on the necessity of violence, the logic of terror, and guerrilla tactics are examined and set against their particular context. It is argued that the form, purpose and intensity of violence were shaped not only by Greek intentions and peasant reactions, but mainly by the prevalence in Macedonia of pre-national religious identities, which obstructed the transformation of peasants into Greeks and allowed violence to function as the ultimate arbitrator of ‘national’ affiliations.

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